Despite stating last week that the bigs deals were pretty much done, Dave Dombrowski wasted no time at Day 1 of the Winter Meetings in Nashville shoring up the Red Sox bullpen, and adding a left-hander started. Doing a deal with the Mariners sent lukewarm starter Wade Miley (in 2015, he went 11-11 with a 4.46 ERA) and minor leaguer Jonathan Aro to Seattle for reliever Carson Smith and started Roenis Elias. Smith, a right-handed power pitcher, just finished his first ML Season in 2015 with 70 appearances in relief and a 2-5 record with a 2.31, 13 saves and 22 holds.

Oh, and he throws sidearm, is 26 and the Sox have control of him until 2020. Yeah.

Roenis Elias is competent, with a 15-20 record and a 3.97 ERA in 51 outings (including 49 starts) for the Mariners since 2014. I’d like to see how he does with some actual run support, as I suspect he did not get much with the Mariners….because–Mariners…

David Price was presented to the world as the latest Red Sox acquisition on Friday, and of course he said all the right things, like how he wanted to be “that guy” and how he wanted to win in Boston, and something about saving all of his post season success for the Red Sox, blah blah blah. Of course he is going to say that; he just signed the most expensive contact for a pitcher. Ever. Let’s just hope he is worth that kind of money. At least for 3-4 years….

But I have heard he’s a good teammate and leader, which, as far as I am concerned is just as important as being a good baseball player….

Oh, and now Hanley is ALL BETTER and ALL READY to play first base. Uh huh. Oh, and he also said there was basically nothing wrong with his training program, it was the fact that he got hurt that made people think it was that. Uh huh. But, apparently, he is listening to management and is going to come to camp less like a linebacker, and more lean…Uh huh. And then there is this: “Going to the infield, it’s different, its way different. I’m an infielder. I don’t know why you guys think it’s going to be hard. I just have to keep working every day and no doubt I’ll make some mistakes, but we just have to learn from that. At the end of the season, just win and everything is going to be all right.” Uh huh…

Finally, Oh, Jonathan Papelbon is cranky again, what a shock. This time, he’s made that his new team, the Nationals didn’t pay him for when he was suspended for 4 days for getting into a fight with Bryce Harper in the dugout. Mad enough to file a grievance because he says there is no precedent for a team not paying when they suspend a player.

Well, if there isn’t, there should be. You suspend an employee; it’s likely you’re not going to pay him. And this quote suddenly seems oh so apropos (paraphrased, of course) :

That’s a clown move, bro.

Coming up: Day 2 of the Winter Meetings in the bag, and they continue through Thursday morning with the Rule 5 Draft. Does Dave have any more tricks up his sleeve? Like getting rid of Hanley perhaps?